


A message from the heart

by bisexualowain



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: (relationships), Established Relationship, F/F, Homesickness, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 08:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13314681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualowain/pseuds/bisexualowain
Summary: After years of research, Owain, Severa and Inigo find a way to communicate with their loved ones back in Ylisse.





	A message from the heart

Morning had only just arrived when the silence of Castle Krakenburg was broken by a young man’s booming voice: 

“MY MASTERPIECE IS FINALLY COMPLETE!” his voice echoed throughout the carved stony chambers. 

Rubbing his tired eyes, which begged him for sleep, Odin let out a yawn. Alas, he could not yet slumber, having to review his work once more.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he re-read his letter in his candlelit chamber. After weeks of disappointing first drafts, it was finally done, and he judged it great.

A knock came at the door, and before he could ask who it was, it swung open to reveal an equally tired-looking Niles.

“Odin, I realize you must’ve been up all night playing with yourself, and I admire that stamina, but Lord Leo would like to rest sometime this decade,” his fellow retainer japed.

“Ah, Niles of the Brooding Dusk! You’ve arrived just in time!” Odin ignored the plea. “Could you do me a favor and take your eyes - er, eye -through this letter?”

After taking a deep breath, the archer responded. “If it’ll shut you up, sure… I would prefer not to have to gag you, which is not something I say very often.”

“Thank you for this, my friend. It’s something that would mean a lot to me!” Odin said, suppressing the butterflies in his stomach that sprung from his fear that Niles would mock his writing. 

To his happiness, Niles’ face as he read it over was one of positive surprise. 

“Oho… so my suspicion about you also having a taste for men was correct, after all,” Niles hummed, raising an eyebrow as he finished reading. 

“I mean… would I wear this if I didn’t?” Odin questioned, pointing to the cut-out in his attire that revealed his toned abs and exposed his pectorals.

“Point taken…” Niles conceded. “I’d like to tease you for this, but I can’t really say a mean thing about it. This is a little frustrating, but you did well.”

“Thank you so much, my dear companion! I must send this letter his way as soon as possible!” Odin voiced.

“Ugh, I’m glad for you, but once more, keep your voice down...” Niles complained, before handing Odin back the letter. “I… wish you luck with this fellow. He must be quite the lad if he provokes such deep feelings in you.”

“Thanks! I... feel for him the same way you feel about Lord Corrin. I want you two to be happy as well,” Odin smiled. “Please tell him I said thanks, by the way.”

Niles chuckled, shaking his head at Odin’s incorrigible behavior, before turning around and gently shutting the door and then murmuring from the other side. “I appreciate it, and I will tell him… even if I don’t know why.”

Smiling now to himself, Odin folded the letter with care, just as he had done with his handwriting for it, which was remarkably readable when compared to his usual penmanship.

Signing his name and filling in that of his recipient on the outer envelope, the dark mage silently brought it to his lips, closing his eyes and wishing for a moment that he could will his lover’s lips into receiving that kiss.

\---

“Took you long enough...” the acerbic voice of a young woman greeted him as he arrived at the atrium. “Eh, forget what I said… I’m just glad we can finally do this.”

“I figured you would be the first to finish the letter, but hey, I’m not complaining about being the first!” Said another young man.

“Sorry for the wait, guys… I just wanted this one to be the best it could be, you know?” Odin chuckled. “Severa, Inigo, have you brought the ingredients I need?”

Both of them were taken by surprise to be called their birth names, though it was a little bit irrelevant now, of all times, considering their task had been completed for a few weeks already.

“I wouldn’t dare show my face here today if I hadn’t… even though these were really tough to find!” Severa uncrossed her arms, reaching for her pocket, from which she withdrew two vials, one filled with a green liquid and another that carried three small objects.

“Heh heh, I can’t say the same regarding the difficulty, but… yes, mine are both here,” Inigo handed his friend two small pouches.

“What was THAT supposed to mean?” Severa furrowed her brow, poking Inigo on the shoulder, but he only shrugged and winked at her direction.

“Let’s not fight now, my bosom companions… lest this sour our letters for them,” Owain pleaded, with a flourish of his hand as he took Severa’s items in his hand.

Sitting down on the stone floor, Odin placed a small bronze cauldron where the Nohrian soldiers would usually cook easy meals. He waited for his friends to take their places by his side, before conjuring a small flame to dance and crackle on the floor below the cauldron. 

After half-filling it with water, Odin poured one of the vials Severa had collected inside. “O matron of the shadows, keeper of the veil that apportions all the worlds… we offer you a gift to grant us safe passage!” 

'Pegasi bones,' Owain thought to himself. They represent a secure flight for their letters through the canals of time and space.

Inigo handed him one of the pouches, which Owain quickly threw into the warming cauldron. This one was sand from a beach where a shipwreck had happened, which symbolized the respect that the trio had for the power of the higher being who allowed them to perform this rite, but who could easily punish them for any insolence.

“O matriarch of all lands and every beginning, please allow these warriors three to communicate with those they hold dear, and grant us temporary use of your domain,” Owain begged, afraid of his voice cracking during the ritual.

Severa noted Owain’s silent nod at her direction, before pouring the green liquid into the boiling water. She had spent an entire night mixing powdered herbs and venom from oversea beasts to create that concoction, a mixture that represented the fickle nature of this higher power, and their ability to both heal and hurt. 

Dark green smoke began to rise from the cauldron, prompting the trio to smile, as it was a telltale sign of the ritual working, according to the grimoire they’d been following. 

Untying the knot in his throat, Inigo presented the remaining ingredient, locks of hair from a Manakete, which he had asked of Corrin after explaining their situation. They represented the support of another divine being for their request.

A moment of silence from the trio turned into an uproarious bout of joy as the green smoke lightened and approached a tone of turquoise.

“I can’t believe it… Lucy is going to read my letter…” Severa let out, finally allowing herself a soft smile.

“I really hope Gerome hasn’t brooded himself into a heart attack!” Inigo joked, whilst trying and failing to stealthily hide his tears.

Owain looked down into his own letter, his gaze growing softer as he read the name of his beloved, before casting the letter into the bubbling cauldron, being followed in doing so by his friends.

Instead of sinking to the bottom of it, the three letters simply disappeared as soon as they touched the boiling surface, and the trio of friends held one another in a somber embrace, letting their hearts do the talking.

\---

On a moonless night in Ylisstol, a violinist trudged back to his place after a very busy day. In the morning, he had helped out at a local clinic, treating the underprivileged for free, and at night, he had been asked by a nearby tavern to play for the awaiting crowd.

Though he was more exhausted than he could put into words, Brady fondly recalled the smiles he’d received - both from his patients and patrons - deciding that, as hard these last two years had been, he was at least spending his time on worthy things.

“I’m back, ya lil’ scamp!” Brady announced, after unlocking the door. For a second, he wished he had been speaking to a certain person, before the real recipient meowed back at him.

With a small smile, Brady walked over to his beloved cat, Sir Winston, and scratched him under his chin, much to the feline’s delight. “Didja miss me?”

Knowing the cat was unlikely to reply in any significant way, Brady turned around, placing himself in his small, dark house, before he decided to light a candle.

He set the bottle of milk he’d gotten from the tavern owner next to Sir Winston’s bowl on a table, preparing to pour it for him, before something caught his eye.

“A letter?” he asked out loud, without really meaning to. His first thought was that it was from his dear ma, but he then remembered that she always had them delivered to him directly, and that no one had been in his place today.

When Brady inched his hand closer to the tan envelope, his blood turned to ice, before melting into metaphorical flame.

Not believing his eyes, he brought it closer to the lit candle, wondering if he’d simply read the name of the sender wrong, but hoping with every fiber of his being that this was not the case.

Brady’s lips parted in shock, and he felt tears well up in the corners of his eyes, cursing them to retreat and at least have the decency to wait for him to read the letter.

The deft hands of a skilled violinist had become those of an excited youth as he struggled to open it without ripping the envelope and what it contained.

-

"Sir Brady! I am SO excited to be able to write to you! We’re all doing well and our mission is finished! It won’t be long now before we can return, I hope. It took a long time with the war and such, but we finally figured out a way to send you letters! I missed you so much! I know you won’t be able to reply, but please know that I’m here, I’m still alive, and that I love you!

I’ll write to you again in time, to keep you up to date with how Sev, Inigo and I plan on getting back, but for now I figure this should be enough? There isn’t enough scroll space in the world for me to tell you everything I feel, but I hope these last years haven’t been too tough on you…

Anxious to see you again,

Owain.

Ps. I’ve also taken the liberty of writing you a little something! It’s on the back of the very letter you are reading. Take care, my love! 

-

If they had only threatened to fall before, Brady’s tears now cascaded down his face, accompanying one of the widest smiles he’d ever given.

“Owain...” he whispered, through a raspy voice. He couldn’t even imagine what kind of silly poem Owain had written, but he was certain that it was one of his fun epics. 

When Brady turned the letter in his hand, however, he felt as though his heart had stopped beating for a second.

-

My Brady of the Moistened Eyes,

Our separation taught me a heart could be torn in twain

But for duty and for love mine still beats

I yearn for the day we reunite, our promise... still I keep

I long to hold you once again, tell you about my love a thousand times and more

You are still the light that guides me

The memory of you, ever the beacon that leads me safely to shore

So lucky and blessed am I to count you among my stars

I didn’t know a heart could flutter, now I find your love is where mine roosts.

 

Forever yours, 

Owain.

-

Bringing the letter to his chest, Brady wept, loudly and as unflattering as he could get. His eyes hadn’t remained dry in the years since they’d parted, but he felt as though a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Sir Winston rubbed his body against Brady’s legs, seemingly to check up on his owner’s outburst. Brady simply caressed his kitty’s fur, smiling at the small animal.

“Owain’ll be back… now I know he will...” without saying another word, Brady sat on the floor, his back resting against his and Owain’s bed, as he allowed himself to cry and to smile all at once.


End file.
